The thesis systematically analyses features of the literary reflection of the Balkan crisis of the 90s of the twentieth century in contemporary Serbian prose, using a comprehensive philological analysis. The most typical texts of Serbian literature related to the 1990s in the history of Serbia were considered.
In particular, the prose literary works of modern Serbian literature, which reflect on the Balkan crisis of the 90s of the twentieth century, giving a vision of events from different angles, significant for modern Serbian literature, were analysed in detail. These are the novels that were written after 2000: a trilogy «The Deserter's Diary» («Dnevnik dezertera») by Zvonko Karanović, namely the novels «More than Zero» («Više od nule», 2004), «The Four Walls and the City» («Četiri zida i grad», 2006), «Three Pictures of Victory» («Tri slike pobede», 2009); a novel by Srđan Valjarević «Como» («Komo», 2006); a novel by Uglješa Shajtinac «Very Modest Gifts» («Sasvim skromni darovi», 2011) and a novel by Mirjana Bobić-Mojsilović «Diary of a Serbian Housewife» («Dnevnik srpske domaćice», 2000).
To illustrate the continuity of the literary and historical tradition of the Serbian artistic reflection on the crisis of the 90s, the study also considers the works of other authors written at the turn of the ХХ and ХХІ centuries, appealing to the chosen subject. This refers to such writers as V. Arsenijević, V. Kecmanović, M. Vidojković, I. Marojević and others.
The study of the literary process in Serbia after 2000 made it possible to supplement theories and hypotheses concerning the directions of development of Serbian literature at the beginning of the XXI century; an attempt was made to determine the particular features of the development of modern Serbian identity in a new era. The thesis is devoted to an array of Serbian literature and, unlike other studies that consider the post-Yugoslav space and its specifics, is not focused on the comparative aspect. The role and consequences of the Balkan crisis of the 90s in the literary process of Serbia at the beginning of the 21st century in synchrony and diachrony are outlined and the historical and cultural context of the development of Serbian literature after 2000 is analyzed in the thesis.
The work summarizes the content and scope of the categories of «literary reflection», «historical memory», «historical distance» and their application in the modern literary paradigm. In view of the variability of the term in literary studies, for the purpose of this work, by «literary reflection» we understand, first of all, the reflection of human experience in the work of art, the author's emotional reflection on his/her experiences, the reception of situations, events and feelings.
The particular features of artistic reflection, reinterpretation of historical events and their influence on the Serbian society and culture of the outlined period in the novels of Serbian writers such as Z. Karanović, S. Valjarević, V. Šajtinac and M. Bobić-Mojsilović are analyzed and systematized. The conceptual component of the mentioned authors' artistic reflection on the Balkan crisis of the 90s was explored and revealed.
Particular attention is paid to the impact the «Balkanism» discourse (according to M. Todorova) and the contemporary sociocultural context had on the works of the mentioned writers. A structural counterpoint and aesthetic diversity of artistic comprehension of the problem in contemporary Serbian prose is the subject of the thesis.
According to the research, the literary works dealing with the events of the Balkan crisis of the 90s of the twentieth century tend to autodocumental genres, in particular – to the form of a diary (a trilogy «The Deserter's Diary»; the novels «Diary of a Serbian Housewife» and «Como»), as well as to the epistolary («Very Modest Gifts»), which brings it very close to memoiristics. Modern Serbian literature of the ХХІ century continues the literary tradition of Serbian «war» literature, which is several centuries old already. The interest in marginal phenomena, as well as postmodern decentralization, encourage authors to turn to not just the great phenomena, but to the story of an average person. The desire to find your place in the general history and to justify your existence forms the basis of the modern historical novel. Documented diachrony, the ratio of fact and invention, historiotocentricity, as well as the presence of historical figures, characterize the novels we have analyzed, which suggests that it is laying of the foundations for the modern historical novel we are dealing with.
Key words: the Balkan crisis of the 90s of the twentieth century, literary reflection, Serbian literature, modern Serbian prose, Z. Karanović, M. Bobić-Mojsilović, U. Šajtinac, S. Valjarević.
